Melissa Gallardo is the CEO & Founder of Bonita Fierce Candles, a company that creates luxury candles inspired by Latinx culture. In this episode, we explore her journey into entrepreneurship and the magic of re-imagining where we see ourselves. Melissa is also a brand consultant, an Ulta Beauty MUSE Accelerator Alum and is the first Latina to have her own candle brand at Nordstrom.
Discover her beautiful Latino inspired scented candles on her website here:
https://bonitafiercecandles.com/
Naibe Reynoso is the Host and Executive Producer of Latinas Take the Lead.
Production Assistant is Anna Sophia Monzon
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
What I want the business to be in terms of
who I'm marketing towards, Like the woman who is unapologetically
herself that sees self care but seeing celebrating your heritage
and culture as self care. The person who is fierce
in their way of being that they know what they
(00:28):
want and how to get there. And I really wanted
to be able to embody empowerment. I really wanted to
be able to show the world that Latinas are luxury.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
You just heard Melissa Gayado, founder and CEO of Bonit
that fierce candles. Have you ever had a candle that
smelled like Tafeko lich or how about Abuilla's Bakery? Hmmm,
smells delicious. Welcome to Latina's Take the Lead Today. We
are talking to Melissa Gayardro. She tells us about our
(01:05):
path in creating a business that makes premium home fragrance
candles inspired by our Latino culture, which started off as
a side hustle while she was in graduate school and
working a corporate job, has now turned into a full
time business Alisi that is Melissa. She continues expanding her
brand into stores such as Nordstrom. This is just the beginning.
(01:27):
Elko mienso for this Latina entrepreneur. Let's dive in. Alrighty,
so Maama s and Besad Melissa Gayardro from Bonita Fiir's
Candles muchas gracias, thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
Thank you so much for inviting me here. I'm super
excited to dive right in.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Give me the thirty second elevator pitch of what your
company is.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Of course, so Bonita Fiirs Candles is dedicated to creating
premium candles inspired by Latin heritage, providing a sense of
familiarity home and belonging. Latinos don't have censor fragrances that
accurately represent them in the home fragrance industry. So our
hero products like Capacito, go Le, Coquito, Lavender Fabulosa are
(02:11):
really breaking barriers and we're really changing that face of
home fragrance. We really stand to celebrate and elevate the
cultural crossroads of what it means to be Latino and American.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Amazing, And I think you're super super young as well.
From what I understand, you're twenty four, is that correct?
Speaker 1 (02:29):
I'm twenty five Western twenty five.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Okay, so you are literally almost half my age. Like
Latin eke. The new generations are really stepping up to
the plate.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
I know, it's amazing. I can't even believe my own age.
Normally people don't realize how old I am until they've
I've admitted it right right say, or I'm normally the
youngest in the room and that's a really weird feeling.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Still, well, own it, girl, cause you're only going to
be twenty five, you know once. So you know what,
besides being an entrepreneur, you are also an academic. Talk
to us about that journey. What did you major in
and when did you graduate?
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Sure? So I got my bachelor's degree from Manhattan College.
I got a degree in Communication and Broadcasting with minor
and religious studies, which is a fun fact I feel
like nobody really knows about in my academic career. And
then I recently graduated from the New School and got
my Masters of Science and Media Management with a minor
(03:34):
impact entrepreneurship. So I graduated from my bachelor's in twenty
nineteen and got my masters in twenty twenty two.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Wow, but did you dive into your company full time now?
Because I know, according to your resume, you've worked with
you know, Spotify, Viacom, red Box, et cetera. So where
are you now as far as like balancing your academic
and your career versus entrepreneurship.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Sure. So I was working at Viacom CBS which is
now Paramount for about two years from internship through my
full time job. I left that role after feeling really
burnt out and kind of dissatisfied from the work that
I was doing, and I had already launched one of
the Fierce Candles as a side hustle, and then I
(04:20):
really wanted to take the business full time eventually, but
I really needed to feel secure in my finances and
being able to reinvest myself and feel secure in the business.
So I started taking jobs elsewhere. I started taking contracted jobs,
so three month roles, whether that be backfilling for somebody
(04:42):
there was too much work and they just needed extra
people or even covering maternity lead, which was a situation
at Redbox. And then I was taking those three month
contracts until about April of this year when I decided
that I have enough saved, I can support myself through
the end of the year. Was going to be my
good enough point, and I really wanted to focus in
(05:04):
on the peak season and really prepare myself for that moment.
So that's kind of where I am now in terms
of full time work. And now I do beneath the
Fierce Candles full time, and I was really balancing that
out until literally the end of August is when I
graduated from the new school, and I've just been going
(05:24):
back and forth between school and full time work. And
even now I feel like I've never left school because
I'm also part of the Ultibed Musiccelerator program and it
feels just as difficult as a college class. Wow, at
this there are so many types of opportunities and educational
opportunities that I'm doing now that really feel like I
(05:45):
never left school.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Yeah, I think we are always learning, and I actually
absolutely love always learning. I'm always picking up a podcast,
an audio book, taking classes, taking you know Acceller or
trying to get into Acceller. I think, you know, it
activates our brain, in our mind. I mean, we if
we're alive, I think we should always be learning. So
(06:07):
I paud you for really, you know, taking the initiative
to educate yourself with beyond you know, the traditional academic
So like this accelerator, this ulta muse accelerator. That sounds
like an amazing opportunity. Are your products going to be
an ALTA after this accelerator or talk to me about
what the structure is like for this opportunity.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
Absolutely. So. Essentially this program has taken on eight b
D brands and we're going to be working with altabt's
corporate team, their DEI initiatives and essentially going through a
long term success plan and going through modules each week,
whether that's retail one oh one, business management, legal and regulatory,
(06:50):
and we're going through every session each week going through
this motion of business so we can have long term success.
The goal of the program is again to prepare ourselves
for retail. At the end of the program, we'll be
going back to Chicago and pitching to ultra merchants and
venture capitalists. So that's really exciting stuff. I'm personally not
(07:14):
looking for investment at the moment, but it's so great
to get the experience and to prepare myself for that
journey and being able to potentially get carried at old
beauty stores.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
And did you have to apply for that? Were you
like one of thousands that applied?
Speaker 1 (07:32):
Of course I applied for their program over the summer,
and eventually they had reached out to me for an
interview and I got into the program. I was against
I don't even know how many thousands of the applicants
to be able to get into this program.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Wow, congratulations, thank you. And we were both runner ups
for the HIF Nation Foddista's grant, so I was so
happy to see you there and other Latina entrepreneurs and
I was really cheering everyone on. It's just great to
see that there's this new surge of women being avantadas.
I call it almost it's almost sindo aventadas because I'm
(08:08):
also a business owner. I own a publishing company, Gondola Press. Right,
So talk to me about what was that leap for
you to say I'm going to just jump, you know,
off the cliff without a parachute, so to speak, and
just dive full full time into my business. What happened
that made you go for it full time?
Speaker 1 (08:30):
I actually really didn't realize how well I was doing
until I looked at the numbers, like I had to
go through my end of year numbers in twenty twenty one.
I even put a video about this on TikTok and Instagram,
like just seeing like the motions of my numbers increasing
over time, and you know, in January, kind of taking
what was in front of me and saying, if I
(08:53):
could do what I did last year and double it,
I'll be okay. And that was kind of the the
the process of going there and feeling like I had
some financial stability on my back from working full time
and even having that ability to save was really the
moment and decision where I was like, I can do
(09:15):
this full time. I can take a business as far
as I can. And also realizing that if I were
to stay in corporate, I would stuck my growth, like
this would only be a side hustle and I couldn't
go farther into my mission, and I didn't want that.
I wanted to create a whole new category in home fragrance.
(09:37):
I want to be able to bring home fragrance to
the new majority, and that is something I feel so
deeply about and found so much fulfillment in. So when
I was really weighing out the options, it came down
to the numbers, my passion, and just that kind of
cold hard truth. It just like smacked me in the face.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
Amazing, these amazing candles. How many scents do you have?
And I'm assuming you probably have seasonal sense as well,
like come Christmas time and maybe the other Los Martos,
I'm not sure, but talk to us about the different
sense that you have. How many do you have now?
Speaker 1 (10:15):
Honestly, I couldn't tell you how many in total there
are right now because I'm always switching out candles for
the seasons and the holidays. But for the most part,
we carry ten signature scents. We have sense like Coquito Azucar,
much more Spanish moss, and so many more that really
(10:35):
I hope speak to the Latino and Latino community because
they are really inspired by us and the sense and
ephumeral experiences that we have in childhood. And I want
to be able to bring back all those memories.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Definitely, And it's amazing how much a scent can bring
back those memories. And I feel like candlemakers are magicians
because I have no idea how you get the sense
of that memory into a candle. And I'm sure that's
like a secret that you hold near and dear to
your heart, because that's kind of like the heart of
your business. How you create those those oils, right, those scents,
(11:12):
So was it a challenge to figure out, like if
I'm going to get coquito, you know, how am I
going to how am I going to put the coquito
smell sent in a bottle and like create a candle?
Was that challenging or was that the easy part?
Speaker 1 (11:26):
It's actually very similar to baking. So I always tell
people that don't know anything about candle making that you're
looking at its core ingredient. So you're looking at like
what would be the flour, the chocolate chips, the extra
flavors that go into whatever you're baking, And that's your
(11:46):
end goal in the kinds of candle notes and ingredients
that go into the fragrant oil itself. And after so
many testers, do I finally get the product that I
have today? So with the coquito, like there are notes
of cinnamon, it's there's so much coconut in it, alcohol rum,
(12:10):
they like you have to put in like what you
would smell in goquito or what you would taste in
a coquita recipe, and then bring that to life in
the fragrance oil. And just like baking, you're messing around
with temperature, You're messing with the actual formulation, it's density,
the volume, it's it's a really great creative process.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
So you mentioned that you left your corporate job and
your you know, like like contracting jobs in order to
jump into your business full time because you were doing well,
and obviously in order to do well, you need to
have a lot of customers. Where are the majority of
your customers? How did you find them? Are they like
literally just people that find you on your website? I
(12:53):
know that your products are in Nordstrum, so are your
wholesalers your biggest customers? Talk to us about where where
are the people that are buying all these amazing candles?
Speaker 1 (13:04):
A lot of them are finding me on social media.
The majority of my sales actually come from a lot
of my corporate clients who are really amplifying the business
as well. So one thing that my corporate career really
helped me realize is that I can partner with corporations
like Google and Bank, major banks that really want to
(13:27):
invest in their DEI initiative and support small businesses and
bipock businesses. So a lot of the times I'll be
doing corporate gifting. I've done influencer boxes, summits conferences, that's
something I realized that was really untapped. And candles are
such a giftable item. I make a small tint that's
(13:50):
perfect for these events, and I get a lot of
clients reaching out right before Hispanic Heritage Month at the
tail end for holiday gifting. And that's also really been
helpful for revenue in the business when it comes in
terms of acquiring a customer, like just for a B
two C sale, it comes from social media. There's so
(14:13):
much power in social especially on TikTok, because I'm able
to be my most authentic stuff. I could be raw,
i could be real about my story where I feel
like Instagram a lot of the times it's a portfolio.
It's telling me, telling you all of my wins, and
on TikTok, I can make a joke and be funny
and really just be myself more.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
Right, So you have are you the majority of your
clients or like what do they call them? Organic clients
from TikTok or Instagram for you specifically? So is it
more Instagram? I mean, sorry TikTok.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
My corporate clients actually find me through press. So one
of my biggest superpowers or super boys is being able
to pitch to journalists in my netw work. You know,
I come from a communication and media background. That was
one thing that I knew right off the bat that
if I was able to get any media and media
(15:08):
media attention mentioned in articles that you know, I would
get the brand recognition and brand trustworthiness of these corporate
clients to say, hey, like this, she's legit, she has
a website, she has all of these articles. I was
featured in Cosmopolitan is one of the best candle brands
on the Internet. Like that's a big deal for these
(15:29):
for these companies. And I acquire a lot of clients
through these articles because they're researching for gifting opportunities, So
they're not always coming across me on social media, where
the majority of my customers are finding me on social media.
So there's a lot of back and forth of where
I'm putting my efforts because I could be on Univision
like I was today it was crazy, And then there
(15:51):
are moments where I'm going back right in social media
and dming entrepreneurs and customers and making jokes like there's
a some a duality in being a business owner and
going through these partnerships and gifting opportunities and then really
going through my customer base as well.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
Right, we do have to have other people in media
kind of say this company's great, right, check them out,
et cetera. Time for a quick break. When we get back,
Melissa shares with us some business tips on how to
promote your business. Stay tuned, so give us a tip.
(16:31):
If someone's listening to us and they have a business,
give us a tip on a good strategy to attract
the Cosmopolitans or the Forbes magazine or the NIVC owns
or NBCs or avcs to do a story on you.
Is it a good headline, is it fostering a relationship
with a specific reporter? Talk to us about maybe give
us a couple of strategies, since that's what you've studied.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
I mean, it's funny because I didn't exactly study public
relations in college. It was more broadcasting, so I am
really able to think about storytelling in a different way.
But the strategies are very similar, because you really need
to be able to hone on your pitch and on
(17:14):
the business itself and its mission and doing it as
condensed as possible, and also just having to do your
own research on the publication, So what kind of stories
can you have for a headline, like how does this
fit into their customer base and their readers and their
overall consumer So that's one thing that I really tell
(17:39):
people to just you know, introduce yourself, introduce your business,
why you're reaching out. And even so I don't because
I'm a small business, I don't always offer a product
right away. If they actually pick me up, I'm like,
I'll send you a candle for you to try out.
And it also I really love to foster relationships with
(18:00):
journalists and reporters as well. Where I can, I'll get
on calls, I'll pick up the phone myself and just
tell them what I'm up to. And then at the
same time, it's a two way street. So if they
never I always say at the end of my calls
or at the end of my pitch is if you
ever need anything, please reach out because I want to
(18:21):
be as best used to you as you are to me.
I don't want to, you know, take up all of
your time and just have a one sided relationship. I
think it's really important to be able to have an
honest and transparent conversation.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
Do you remember any headline subject headline that you've used
recently that really kind of like worked to get that attention,
because I think that's the first thing reporters look at, right,
what's the headline of this email of this media pitch.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
Well, recently I launched into Norstrom. So my biggest headline
has been the first Latina and inspired candle brand at Nordstrom. Wow,
that was a big headline for me because it got
people's attention. They're like, oh, there hasn't been any why
is that people read and open up the emails at
(19:15):
that point.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
So yeah, and that's something I actually did want to
ask you about this Nordstrum opportunity. Can you walk us
through how that happened? Because I think that is the
dream for any new product or business right to get
into those big stores with you know that are in
all over the country that have that brand recognition already
(19:37):
as a store and that give your product that legitimacy
as well. So how did that happen?
Speaker 1 (19:43):
So actually, the buyer reached out to me. They found
me on social media, and the buyers are always very
incognito about it. You never really know when they're watching.
So that's something I always tell people like you know
you're on social, but you never know who is looking
at your feed and your products. And when she had
(20:05):
returned back from Eternity leave, that was the first the
first thing she did was reach out to me because
she was so obsessed with the brand and she reached
out to me, and I think April of this year,
which is right around the time I had left corporate
for good, and that really gave me the reassurance as well,
like if this goes through, this account pulls through, I
(20:29):
can do this. And I continue to work through all
the trials and tribulations of being with the norse Strum
account because it is very difficult to do this when
you're so small. It is like a textbook of a
manual that you have to read and understand, whether that
(20:51):
logistics to ticketing, shipping. Even something so small is the
kind of tape that you put on your boxes and
the delivery truck comes to your doorstep, Like how does
everything need to be packed when it's fragile because my
candles are a glass And it's very very very nuanced
in how to get there and timing it all out.
(21:14):
And I remember the first time the shipment truck actually came,
I was in a total panic because I didn't have
the correct paperwork on hand and I was calling everybody
was calling the carrier. I panic emailed my buyer and
by the time the day was over, there's twenty five
people on an email chain because I didn't want to
get a charge back. And that's something that brands don't
(21:36):
realize when you work with the big retailer ignore Strom,
is that if you make mistakes, it costs you money.
Right like one mistake it costs you that hundreds of
thousands of dollars at one time. And I'm very, very
lucky that I had a buyer who had my back
through that time and she was willing to fight for
me because they are really trying to get through their
(22:00):
DEI initiatives and make that commitment to fifteen percent of
their accounts being you know, black owned by pop, BIPOC
owned overall. So working with Norsham has definitely been a challenge,
but it's come with a lot of reward as well.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
And I'm curious, was that buyer BIPOC or not she was, Well,
she is she is by POC right when you got
that big order, because I'm assuming Nordstrom doesn't just want
ten candles, they want hundreds of candles, right, were you
ready to fulfill that or did they give you kind
of like a timeline and then how did you make
(22:37):
because you probably had to grow from zero to sixty
just with that one order, or or did they space
it out and say let's start with a small quantity
and then kind of keep growing from there.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
So they did ask for thousands of candles at a time, right,
And I was not prepared for that at all. But
what we ended up doing was a lot of half
of it would go to do so it would be
in store, and then half of it would live online.
And of course candles are really hard sell online and
people don't realize how important it is to actually smell
(23:12):
a candle and experience it. About two thirds of candles
are sold in store. Wow, that is huge. So when
I think deeply about Norstrom, we had the transparent conversation
like still telling them, I'm in my garage, I'm still
hand pouring these. I have to tell you what my
(23:33):
capacity is. And then we collectively made the decision together.
And in terms of reorders, we talk about them like
a quarter in advance or even two quarters in advance.
So you know, my holiday candles are going to be
coming out in I think late October or early November,
because we were able to secure that already, like early
(23:56):
this year, once we had our five signature candles launch
out at Nordstrom, picking out the sense, the amount of
skews we wanted in the quantity, and then eventually like
going down the line, I'll be I'm going to be
talking about spring and summer, and then continuing on that
way and also reevaluating what people are buying, what people
(24:16):
are really interested in, and having that transparent conversation in
those expectations as a new and emerging brand.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
So I'm assuming you have I don't know, I think
they're called packers or like a third party? Do you
like have a manufacturer now? Or how are you scaling?
Can't you can't do them all on your own?
Speaker 1 (24:34):
Right? I still am, That's all? I still no way
I am. And the big goal for twenty twenty three
is to finally get out of my converted garage and
then out of my home home based business and move
into a warehouse because I can't do this, it's not sustainable,
(24:55):
it's not scalable, and really going into a deep dive
in how much I'm going to need to make to
do this, what kind of financing will I need to
be able to sustain the business in this way because
I know how I'm doing. Again, very similar to me
(25:15):
realizing that I couldn't I couldn't create more candles, I
couldn't do what I wanted when I was in the
corporate world, like I would be at a halt. It's
very similar in this decision and working my way to
get there. Like I wanted to be able to have
the security of money before going full time with the business.
(25:37):
Now it's the business that has to be secure, and
it's financing to be able to scale into the next
step in the vision for the business. So that's kind
of where I am now, and I know I have
a maximum and evaluating that max and what am I
going to be able to do to get beyond that
(25:58):
is where I am right now.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
So you don't have any help hand pouring these candles.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
I do. I do have my sister who I put
on payroll and then like her college friends were able
to come and pour candles alongside me. Because I don't.
I can't do it. I can't run the business and
be pouring candles all at once, anymore.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
Right, I want to ask about the name Bonita Fierce.
Talk to me about the or was it an immediate aha,
like this is what it's going to be called. Or
did it take you a while to figure it out?
And how did you come, you know, to figure it out.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
No, it definitely didn't come to me right away. I
actually spent a few months really debating on what I
was going to call the business I had. I knew
I wanted to be in Spanglish, but I also wanted
it to be recognizable in English. So Bonita, I felt
like was a word that a lot of people would
be able to say and recognize right away. And then Fierce,
(26:57):
I think is a very vigorous word in itself, but
also really represents what I want the business to be
in terms of who I'm marketing towards, Like the woman
who is unapologetically herself that sees self care but seeing
celebrating your heritage and culture as self care. The person
(27:21):
who is fierce in their way of being that they
know what they want and how to get there. And
I really wanted to be able to embody empowerment. I
really wanted to be able to show the world that
Latinas are luxury, like what I do can be luxurious
(27:42):
and bring back, bring back and hone in on the
word fears. It doesn't always have to be a negative connotation.
And that's kind of where like the two words kind
of just mesh together really well.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
Amazing and your heritage is Salvadorian? Correct, Yes, what specific
scent was inspired by? I'm sure all of them were
inspired by lal but I think us as Latinos, we
can relate to a lot of things mutually. But was
there a specific like Salvadorian scent?
Speaker 1 (28:13):
Actually no, No, that's really That's the one thing about
the brand. I didn't want it to be own in
on one specific country or area in Latin America. And
I have I have no ties to El Salvador as
a country because my father immigrated during the during the
(28:35):
Civil War and all of his family had fled, So
we have very limited ties to the country itself from
my father's side. And then my mom raised me so
and she immigrated as a child and a lot of
the we never really spoke to any of her extended family.
My grandmother had passed away a week after nine to
(28:58):
eleven and I never was able to really experience culture
because the culture, the Salvadorian culture, because my mom had
a lot of shame in growing up on Long Island.
She immigrated when she was ten years old. She was
severely bullied because she was speaking Spanish at school and
(29:20):
the way she looked, the way she spoke, and it
really transcended into her adulthood and how she wanted my
life to be much easier than hers and for me
to assimilate as an American, and she made the active
decision not to teach me Spanish for that reason. And
so when I talk about al Savador, I really think
(29:42):
back to my parents' experiences in al Savador and how
I can reconnect to their roots. And I continued to
talk to my mom and we have an amazing relationship
about what it was like for her growing up, and
it was very very painful experience for her as well.
(30:02):
And she came before the Civil War, but she was
separated from my grandma, from my abuela and for a
number of years during her childhood. So it's very hard
to think about where I can take back the heritage
and learn and educate myself more about Elsavador. But I
(30:23):
really embrace the culture that I do experience in New York.
So I do have family that are Puerto Rican and
that are Mexican and Dominican, and I love that, and
I love being able to experience other cultures and countries
that are not of my parents' ethnicity or my country
(30:44):
of origin or my parents' country of origin. And that's
what I'm really bringing to the forefront of the brand,
because again, like there is this cultural crossroads of being Latino,
of being you know, of Mexican descent or Puerto Rican descent,
and that's what I really bringing to the table because
I personally love gokeepo as a drink and I always
(31:05):
have it at the holidays. Like my mom my cousins
are half potorak In, and that's something that we really
celebrate as well. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
No, that's so interesting because as Latinos, we were not
a monolith in terms of our story, right. We all
have different reasons why we ended up in the United States.
Our parents all have different varied stories, whether they were
fleeing civil wars or they were fleeing economic crisis in
their countries, et cetera. So I think that's something that
(31:35):
the larger community should also learn about us that we're
all our histories are all varied and different, but what
unites us is a very beautiful Latino banner, right that
I feel like we all kind of can. We can
say a Spanish word and we immediately there's like that connection.
And I know that we're starting to run out of time.
So I just had a couple more questions, and then
(31:57):
I know you have a business to run, So my
I'm just curious, are you expanding into other products besides candles?
Speaker 1 (32:06):
Currently? No, we're not expanding us to other products. That's
definitely a question. I get a lot, but I also
want to hear a lot of what customers would like
for products, whether that's wax mouths or diffusers like and I.
Right now, I am really focusing on expanding the product
line and the kind of fragrances that we carry, and
(32:27):
diving in deeper into other countries and listening to customers
and what they want to experience. Like I always ask
people like it, when you went back to your country
for the first time, or you went over the summer
and you just got off the plane, what reminds you,
what instantly reminds you of home, because that's I want
(32:51):
people to go back and to reimagine where you are,
and I really want to bring that experience in a candle.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
What is something that you're reading or doing that you're
just obsessed with and you want to recommend, reading, listening to,
or doing.
Speaker 1 (33:06):
Like I have like a whole I'm like, I'm like
putting my hand in my face. I'm like, oh God,
there's so many things that I feel like I've been
wanting to get a hold of. But there's one book
in particular that I read last summer when I had
more time on my hand that really spoke to me
(33:26):
in my experience, and that was I'm not your perfect
Mexican Daughter.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
Sanchez. I believe yes, the author yes.
Speaker 1 (33:35):
And that was one book that I read. I'm like,
this is something I feel like I've read Latino and
Latin that needs to read that has immigrated to the
United States or grew up in a household that didn't
always that was so fair, family oriented that it kind
of felt devastating to your ability to grow as a person.
(33:56):
And I'm obsessed. I'm obsessed with the book. If somebody's
having an identity crisis and they're Latino you need to
read this. You will see yourself.
Speaker 2 (34:05):
Yeah, and I believe that there's now going to be
a movie or a show or something based on that,
So we're going to have to keep an eye out.
The name of the show is Latinas take the lead.
How are you taking the lead.
Speaker 1 (34:19):
I'm taking the lead by becoming one of the trail
blazers in Fragrance. I'm taking the lead by making sure
that BYPOC founders are heard and that those in Fragrance
are your acentric. Fragrance is based in France, and there
(34:39):
has been no representation of us, so I want to
be the trailblazer and take the lead in home Fragrance.
Speaker 2 (34:46):
Amazing and where can people find you buy your candles?
Check them out, et cetera.
Speaker 1 (34:53):
Well, you can find us all on social media at Bonneit,
the Fierce Candles. You can shop us on our website
at Bonnita, the Fierce Canals dot com, at Norstrom and
guy then a collective.
Speaker 2 (35:03):
Amazing much, Melissa, Such an honor to meet you and
like get to know you a little bit better than
just you know through social media. So thank you for
giving us the space and time.
Speaker 1 (35:15):
Absolutely, thank you so much for having me and for
me being having the opportunity to speak to your audience.
Speaker 2 (35:27):
Thank you so much for listening. I hope you learned
something today. I know I did. Please subscribe and give
us a review, Tell your friends and go Madrees about
our podcast, and hope you join us next week. Latin
Has Take the Lead is executive produced by Hodsten Reinoso
Media Group, LLC and hosted by me Naive Renos. Production
(35:47):
Assistant is Ana Sofia Monson. Latinus Take the Lead is
a production of the Seneca Women Podcast Network and iHeartRadio.
For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, check out the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Aspala Proxima
What I want the business to be in terms of
who I'm marketing towards, Like the woman who is unapologetically
herself that sees self care but seeing celebrating your heritage
and culture as self care. The person who is fierce
in their way of being that they know what they
(00:28):
want and how to get there. And I really wanted
to be able to embody empowerment. I really wanted to
be able to show the world that Latinas are luxury.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
You just heard Melissa Gayado, founder and CEO of Bonit
that fierce candles. Have you ever had a candle that
smelled like Tafeko lich or how about Abuilla's Bakery? Hmmm,
smells delicious. Welcome to Latina's Take the Lead Today. We
are talking to Melissa Gayardro. She tells us about our
(01:05):
path in creating a business that makes premium home fragrance
candles inspired by our Latino culture, which started off as
a side hustle while she was in graduate school and
working a corporate job, has now turned into a full
time business Alisi that is Melissa. She continues expanding her
brand into stores such as Nordstrom. This is just the beginning.
(01:27):
Elko mienso for this Latina entrepreneur. Let's dive in. Alrighty,
so Maama s and Besad Melissa Gayardro from Bonita Fiir's
Candles muchas gracias, thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
Thank you so much for inviting me here. I'm super
excited to dive right in.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Give me the thirty second elevator pitch of what your
company is.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Of course, so Bonita Fiirs Candles is dedicated to creating
premium candles inspired by Latin heritage, providing a sense of
familiarity home and belonging. Latinos don't have censor fragrances that
accurately represent them in the home fragrance industry. So our
hero products like Capacito, go Le, Coquito, Lavender Fabulosa are
(02:11):
really breaking barriers and we're really changing that face of
home fragrance. We really stand to celebrate and elevate the
cultural crossroads of what it means to be Latino and American.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Amazing, And I think you're super super young as well.
From what I understand, you're twenty four, is that correct?
Speaker 1 (02:29):
I'm twenty five Western twenty five.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Okay, so you are literally almost half my age. Like
Latin eke. The new generations are really stepping up to
the plate.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
I know, it's amazing. I can't even believe my own age.
Normally people don't realize how old I am until they've
I've admitted it right right say, or I'm normally the
youngest in the room and that's a really weird feeling.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Still, well, own it, girl, cause you're only going to
be twenty five, you know once. So you know what,
besides being an entrepreneur, you are also an academic. Talk
to us about that journey. What did you major in
and when did you graduate?
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Sure? So I got my bachelor's degree from Manhattan College.
I got a degree in Communication and Broadcasting with minor
and religious studies, which is a fun fact I feel
like nobody really knows about in my academic career. And
then I recently graduated from the New School and got
my Masters of Science and Media Management with a minor
(03:34):
impact entrepreneurship. So I graduated from my bachelor's in twenty
nineteen and got my masters in twenty twenty two.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Wow, but did you dive into your company full time now?
Because I know, according to your resume, you've worked with
you know, Spotify, Viacom, red Box, et cetera. So where
are you now as far as like balancing your academic
and your career versus entrepreneurship.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Sure. So I was working at Viacom CBS which is
now Paramount for about two years from internship through my
full time job. I left that role after feeling really
burnt out and kind of dissatisfied from the work that
I was doing, and I had already launched one of
the Fierce Candles as a side hustle, and then I
(04:20):
really wanted to take the business full time eventually, but
I really needed to feel secure in my finances and
being able to reinvest myself and feel secure in the business.
So I started taking jobs elsewhere. I started taking contracted jobs,
so three month roles, whether that be backfilling for somebody
(04:42):
there was too much work and they just needed extra
people or even covering maternity lead, which was a situation
at Redbox. And then I was taking those three month
contracts until about April of this year when I decided
that I have enough saved, I can support myself through
the end of the year. Was going to be my
good enough point, and I really wanted to focus in
(05:04):
on the peak season and really prepare myself for that moment.
So that's kind of where I am now in terms
of full time work. And now I do beneath the
Fierce Candles full time, and I was really balancing that
out until literally the end of August is when I
graduated from the new school, and I've just been going
(05:24):
back and forth between school and full time work. And
even now I feel like I've never left school because
I'm also part of the Ultibed Musiccelerator program and it
feels just as difficult as a college class. Wow, at
this there are so many types of opportunities and educational
opportunities that I'm doing now that really feel like I
(05:45):
never left school.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Yeah, I think we are always learning, and I actually
absolutely love always learning. I'm always picking up a podcast,
an audio book, taking classes, taking you know Acceller or
trying to get into Acceller. I think, you know, it
activates our brain, in our mind. I mean, we if
we're alive, I think we should always be learning. So
(06:07):
I paud you for really, you know, taking the initiative
to educate yourself with beyond you know, the traditional academic
So like this accelerator, this ulta muse accelerator. That sounds
like an amazing opportunity. Are your products going to be
an ALTA after this accelerator or talk to me about
what the structure is like for this opportunity.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
Absolutely. So. Essentially this program has taken on eight b
D brands and we're going to be working with altabt's
corporate team, their DEI initiatives and essentially going through a
long term success plan and going through modules each week,
whether that's retail one oh one, business management, legal and regulatory,
(06:50):
and we're going through every session each week going through
this motion of business so we can have long term success.
The goal of the program is again to prepare ourselves
for retail. At the end of the program, we'll be
going back to Chicago and pitching to ultra merchants and
venture capitalists. So that's really exciting stuff. I'm personally not
(07:14):
looking for investment at the moment, but it's so great
to get the experience and to prepare myself for that
journey and being able to potentially get carried at old
beauty stores.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
And did you have to apply for that? Were you
like one of thousands that applied?
Speaker 1 (07:32):
Of course I applied for their program over the summer,
and eventually they had reached out to me for an
interview and I got into the program. I was against
I don't even know how many thousands of the applicants
to be able to get into this program.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Wow, congratulations, thank you. And we were both runner ups
for the HIF Nation Foddista's grant, so I was so
happy to see you there and other Latina entrepreneurs and
I was really cheering everyone on. It's just great to
see that there's this new surge of women being avantadas.
I call it almost it's almost sindo aventadas because I'm
(08:08):
also a business owner. I own a publishing company, Gondola Press. Right,
So talk to me about what was that leap for
you to say I'm going to just jump, you know,
off the cliff without a parachute, so to speak, and
just dive full full time into my business. What happened
that made you go for it full time?
Speaker 1 (08:30):
I actually really didn't realize how well I was doing
until I looked at the numbers, like I had to
go through my end of year numbers in twenty twenty one.
I even put a video about this on TikTok and Instagram,
like just seeing like the motions of my numbers increasing
over time, and you know, in January, kind of taking
what was in front of me and saying, if I
(08:53):
could do what I did last year and double it,
I'll be okay. And that was kind of the the
the process of going there and feeling like I had
some financial stability on my back from working full time
and even having that ability to save was really the
moment and decision where I was like, I can do
(09:15):
this full time. I can take a business as far
as I can. And also realizing that if I were
to stay in corporate, I would stuck my growth, like
this would only be a side hustle and I couldn't
go farther into my mission, and I didn't want that.
I wanted to create a whole new category in home fragrance.
(09:37):
I want to be able to bring home fragrance to
the new majority, and that is something I feel so
deeply about and found so much fulfillment in. So when
I was really weighing out the options, it came down
to the numbers, my passion, and just that kind of
cold hard truth. It just like smacked me in the face.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
Amazing, these amazing candles. How many scents do you have?
And I'm assuming you probably have seasonal sense as well,
like come Christmas time and maybe the other Los Martos,
I'm not sure, but talk to us about the different
sense that you have. How many do you have now?
Speaker 1 (10:15):
Honestly, I couldn't tell you how many in total there
are right now because I'm always switching out candles for
the seasons and the holidays. But for the most part,
we carry ten signature scents. We have sense like Coquito Azucar,
much more Spanish moss, and so many more that really
(10:35):
I hope speak to the Latino and Latino community because
they are really inspired by us and the sense and
ephumeral experiences that we have in childhood. And I want
to be able to bring back all those memories.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Definitely, And it's amazing how much a scent can bring
back those memories. And I feel like candlemakers are magicians
because I have no idea how you get the sense
of that memory into a candle. And I'm sure that's
like a secret that you hold near and dear to
your heart, because that's kind of like the heart of
your business. How you create those those oils, right, those scents,
(11:12):
So was it a challenge to figure out, like if
I'm going to get coquito, you know, how am I
going to how am I going to put the coquito
smell sent in a bottle and like create a candle?
Was that challenging or was that the easy part?
Speaker 1 (11:26):
It's actually very similar to baking. So I always tell
people that don't know anything about candle making that you're
looking at its core ingredient. So you're looking at like
what would be the flour, the chocolate chips, the extra
flavors that go into whatever you're baking, And that's your
(11:46):
end goal in the kinds of candle notes and ingredients
that go into the fragrant oil itself. And after so
many testers, do I finally get the product that I
have today? So with the coquito, like there are notes
of cinnamon, it's there's so much coconut in it, alcohol rum,
(12:10):
they like you have to put in like what you
would smell in goquito or what you would taste in
a coquita recipe, and then bring that to life in
the fragrance oil. And just like baking, you're messing around
with temperature, You're messing with the actual formulation, it's density,
the volume, it's it's a really great creative process.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
So you mentioned that you left your corporate job and
your you know, like like contracting jobs in order to
jump into your business full time because you were doing well,
and obviously in order to do well, you need to
have a lot of customers. Where are the majority of
your customers? How did you find them? Are they like
literally just people that find you on your website? I
(12:53):
know that your products are in Nordstrum, so are your
wholesalers your biggest customers? Talk to us about where where
are the people that are buying all these amazing candles?
Speaker 1 (13:04):
A lot of them are finding me on social media.
The majority of my sales actually come from a lot
of my corporate clients who are really amplifying the business
as well. So one thing that my corporate career really
helped me realize is that I can partner with corporations
like Google and Bank, major banks that really want to
(13:27):
invest in their DEI initiative and support small businesses and
bipock businesses. So a lot of the times I'll be
doing corporate gifting. I've done influencer boxes, summits conferences, that's
something I realized that was really untapped. And candles are
such a giftable item. I make a small tint that's
(13:50):
perfect for these events, and I get a lot of
clients reaching out right before Hispanic Heritage Month at the
tail end for holiday gifting. And that's also really been
helpful for revenue in the business when it comes in
terms of acquiring a customer, like just for a B
two C sale, it comes from social media. There's so
(14:13):
much power in social especially on TikTok, because I'm able
to be my most authentic stuff. I could be raw,
i could be real about my story where I feel
like Instagram a lot of the times it's a portfolio.
It's telling me, telling you all of my wins, and
on TikTok, I can make a joke and be funny
and really just be myself more.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
Right, So you have are you the majority of your
clients or like what do they call them? Organic clients
from TikTok or Instagram for you specifically? So is it
more Instagram? I mean, sorry TikTok.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
My corporate clients actually find me through press. So one
of my biggest superpowers or super boys is being able
to pitch to journalists in my netw work. You know,
I come from a communication and media background. That was
one thing that I knew right off the bat that
if I was able to get any media and media
(15:08):
media attention mentioned in articles that you know, I would
get the brand recognition and brand trustworthiness of these corporate
clients to say, hey, like this, she's legit, she has
a website, she has all of these articles. I was
featured in Cosmopolitan is one of the best candle brands
on the Internet. Like that's a big deal for these
(15:29):
for these companies. And I acquire a lot of clients
through these articles because they're researching for gifting opportunities, So
they're not always coming across me on social media, where
the majority of my customers are finding me on social media.
So there's a lot of back and forth of where
I'm putting my efforts because I could be on Univision
like I was today it was crazy, And then there
(15:51):
are moments where I'm going back right in social media
and dming entrepreneurs and customers and making jokes like there's
a some a duality in being a business owner and
going through these partnerships and gifting opportunities and then really
going through my customer base as well.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
Right, we do have to have other people in media
kind of say this company's great, right, check them out,
et cetera. Time for a quick break. When we get back,
Melissa shares with us some business tips on how to
promote your business. Stay tuned, so give us a tip.
(16:31):
If someone's listening to us and they have a business,
give us a tip on a good strategy to attract
the Cosmopolitans or the Forbes magazine or the NIVC owns
or NBCs or avcs to do a story on you.
Is it a good headline, is it fostering a relationship
with a specific reporter? Talk to us about maybe give
us a couple of strategies, since that's what you've studied.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
I mean, it's funny because I didn't exactly study public
relations in college. It was more broadcasting, so I am
really able to think about storytelling in a different way.
But the strategies are very similar, because you really need
to be able to hone on your pitch and on
(17:14):
the business itself and its mission and doing it as
condensed as possible, and also just having to do your
own research on the publication, So what kind of stories
can you have for a headline, like how does this
fit into their customer base and their readers and their
overall consumer So that's one thing that I really tell
(17:39):
people to just you know, introduce yourself, introduce your business,
why you're reaching out. And even so I don't because
I'm a small business, I don't always offer a product
right away. If they actually pick me up, I'm like,
I'll send you a candle for you to try out.
And it also I really love to foster relationships with
(18:00):
journalists and reporters as well. Where I can, I'll get
on calls, I'll pick up the phone myself and just
tell them what I'm up to. And then at the
same time, it's a two way street. So if they
never I always say at the end of my calls
or at the end of my pitch is if you
ever need anything, please reach out because I want to
(18:21):
be as best used to you as you are to me.
I don't want to, you know, take up all of
your time and just have a one sided relationship. I
think it's really important to be able to have an
honest and transparent conversation.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
Do you remember any headline subject headline that you've used
recently that really kind of like worked to get that attention,
because I think that's the first thing reporters look at, right,
what's the headline of this email of this media pitch.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
Well, recently I launched into Norstrom. So my biggest headline
has been the first Latina and inspired candle brand at Nordstrom. Wow,
that was a big headline for me because it got
people's attention. They're like, oh, there hasn't been any why
is that people read and open up the emails at
(19:15):
that point.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
So yeah, and that's something I actually did want to
ask you about this Nordstrum opportunity. Can you walk us
through how that happened? Because I think that is the
dream for any new product or business right to get
into those big stores with you know that are in
all over the country that have that brand recognition already
(19:37):
as a store and that give your product that legitimacy
as well. So how did that happen?
Speaker 1 (19:43):
So actually, the buyer reached out to me. They found
me on social media, and the buyers are always very
incognito about it. You never really know when they're watching.
So that's something I always tell people like you know
you're on social, but you never know who is looking
at your feed and your products. And when she had
(20:05):
returned back from Eternity leave, that was the first the
first thing she did was reach out to me because
she was so obsessed with the brand and she reached
out to me, and I think April of this year,
which is right around the time I had left corporate
for good, and that really gave me the reassurance as well,
like if this goes through, this account pulls through, I
(20:29):
can do this. And I continue to work through all
the trials and tribulations of being with the norse Strum
account because it is very difficult to do this when
you're so small. It is like a textbook of a
manual that you have to read and understand, whether that
(20:51):
logistics to ticketing, shipping. Even something so small is the
kind of tape that you put on your boxes and
the delivery truck comes to your doorstep, Like how does
everything need to be packed when it's fragile because my
candles are a glass And it's very very very nuanced
in how to get there and timing it all out.
(21:14):
And I remember the first time the shipment truck actually came,
I was in a total panic because I didn't have
the correct paperwork on hand and I was calling everybody
was calling the carrier. I panic emailed my buyer and
by the time the day was over, there's twenty five
people on an email chain because I didn't want to
get a charge back. And that's something that brands don't
(21:36):
realize when you work with the big retailer ignore Strom,
is that if you make mistakes, it costs you money.
Right like one mistake it costs you that hundreds of
thousands of dollars at one time. And I'm very, very
lucky that I had a buyer who had my back
through that time and she was willing to fight for
me because they are really trying to get through their
(22:00):
DEI initiatives and make that commitment to fifteen percent of
their accounts being you know, black owned by pop, BIPOC
owned overall. So working with Norsham has definitely been a challenge,
but it's come with a lot of reward as well.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
And I'm curious, was that buyer BIPOC or not she was, Well,
she is she is by POC right when you got
that big order, because I'm assuming Nordstrom doesn't just want
ten candles, they want hundreds of candles, right, were you
ready to fulfill that or did they give you kind
of like a timeline and then how did you make
(22:37):
because you probably had to grow from zero to sixty
just with that one order, or or did they space
it out and say let's start with a small quantity
and then kind of keep growing from there.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
So they did ask for thousands of candles at a time, right,
And I was not prepared for that at all. But
what we ended up doing was a lot of half
of it would go to do so it would be
in store, and then half of it would live online.
And of course candles are really hard sell online and
people don't realize how important it is to actually smell
(23:12):
a candle and experience it. About two thirds of candles
are sold in store. Wow, that is huge. So when
I think deeply about Norstrom, we had the transparent conversation
like still telling them, I'm in my garage, I'm still
hand pouring these. I have to tell you what my
(23:33):
capacity is. And then we collectively made the decision together.
And in terms of reorders, we talk about them like
a quarter in advance or even two quarters in advance.
So you know, my holiday candles are going to be
coming out in I think late October or early November,
because we were able to secure that already, like early
(23:56):
this year, once we had our five signature candles launch
out at Nordstrom, picking out the sense, the amount of
skews we wanted in the quantity, and then eventually like
going down the line, I'll be I'm going to be
talking about spring and summer, and then continuing on that
way and also reevaluating what people are buying, what people
(24:16):
are really interested in, and having that transparent conversation in
those expectations as a new and emerging brand.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
So I'm assuming you have I don't know, I think
they're called packers or like a third party? Do you
like have a manufacturer now? Or how are you scaling?
Can't you can't do them all on your own?
Speaker 1 (24:34):
Right? I still am, That's all? I still no way
I am. And the big goal for twenty twenty three
is to finally get out of my converted garage and
then out of my home home based business and move
into a warehouse because I can't do this, it's not sustainable,
(24:55):
it's not scalable, and really going into a deep dive
in how much I'm going to need to make to
do this, what kind of financing will I need to
be able to sustain the business in this way because
I know how I'm doing. Again, very similar to me
(25:15):
realizing that I couldn't I couldn't create more candles, I
couldn't do what I wanted when I was in the
corporate world, like I would be at a halt. It's
very similar in this decision and working my way to
get there. Like I wanted to be able to have
the security of money before going full time with the business.
(25:37):
Now it's the business that has to be secure, and
it's financing to be able to scale into the next
step in the vision for the business. So that's kind
of where I am now, and I know I have
a maximum and evaluating that max and what am I
going to be able to do to get beyond that
(25:58):
is where I am right now.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
So you don't have any help hand pouring these candles.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
I do. I do have my sister who I put
on payroll and then like her college friends were able
to come and pour candles alongside me. Because I don't.
I can't do it. I can't run the business and
be pouring candles all at once, anymore.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
Right, I want to ask about the name Bonita Fierce.
Talk to me about the or was it an immediate aha,
like this is what it's going to be called. Or
did it take you a while to figure it out?
And how did you come, you know, to figure it out.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
No, it definitely didn't come to me right away. I
actually spent a few months really debating on what I
was going to call the business I had. I knew
I wanted to be in Spanglish, but I also wanted
it to be recognizable in English. So Bonita, I felt
like was a word that a lot of people would
be able to say and recognize right away. And then Fierce,
(26:57):
I think is a very vigorous word in itself, but
also really represents what I want the business to be
in terms of who I'm marketing towards, Like the woman
who is unapologetically herself that sees self care but seeing
celebrating your heritage and culture as self care. The person
(27:21):
who is fierce in their way of being that they
know what they want and how to get there. And
I really wanted to be able to embody empowerment. I
really wanted to be able to show the world that
Latinas are luxury, like what I do can be luxurious
(27:42):
and bring back, bring back and hone in on the
word fears. It doesn't always have to be a negative connotation.
And that's kind of where like the two words kind
of just mesh together really well.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
Amazing and your heritage is Salvadorian? Correct, Yes, what specific
scent was inspired by? I'm sure all of them were
inspired by lal but I think us as Latinos, we
can relate to a lot of things mutually. But was
there a specific like Salvadorian scent?
Speaker 1 (28:13):
Actually no, No, that's really That's the one thing about
the brand. I didn't want it to be own in
on one specific country or area in Latin America. And
I have I have no ties to El Salvador as
a country because my father immigrated during the during the
(28:35):
Civil War and all of his family had fled, So
we have very limited ties to the country itself from
my father's side. And then my mom raised me so
and she immigrated as a child and a lot of
the we never really spoke to any of her extended family.
My grandmother had passed away a week after nine to
(28:58):
eleven and I never was able to really experience culture
because the culture, the Salvadorian culture, because my mom had
a lot of shame in growing up on Long Island.
She immigrated when she was ten years old. She was
severely bullied because she was speaking Spanish at school and
(29:20):
the way she looked, the way she spoke, and it
really transcended into her adulthood and how she wanted my
life to be much easier than hers and for me
to assimilate as an American, and she made the active
decision not to teach me Spanish for that reason. And
so when I talk about al Savador, I really think
(29:42):
back to my parents' experiences in al Savador and how
I can reconnect to their roots. And I continued to
talk to my mom and we have an amazing relationship
about what it was like for her growing up, and
it was very very painful experience for her as well.
(30:02):
And she came before the Civil War, but she was
separated from my grandma, from my abuela and for a
number of years during her childhood. So it's very hard
to think about where I can take back the heritage
and learn and educate myself more about Elsavador. But I
(30:23):
really embrace the culture that I do experience in New York.
So I do have family that are Puerto Rican and
that are Mexican and Dominican, and I love that, and
I love being able to experience other cultures and countries
that are not of my parents' ethnicity or my country
(30:44):
of origin or my parents' country of origin. And that's
what I'm really bringing to the forefront of the brand,
because again, like there is this cultural crossroads of being Latino,
of being you know, of Mexican descent or Puerto Rican descent,
and that's what I really bringing to the table because
I personally love gokeepo as a drink and I always
(31:05):
have it at the holidays. Like my mom my cousins
are half potorak In, and that's something that we really
celebrate as well. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
No, that's so interesting because as Latinos, we were not
a monolith in terms of our story, right. We all
have different reasons why we ended up in the United States.
Our parents all have different varied stories, whether they were
fleeing civil wars or they were fleeing economic crisis in
their countries, et cetera. So I think that's something that
(31:35):
the larger community should also learn about us that we're
all our histories are all varied and different, but what
unites us is a very beautiful Latino banner, right that
I feel like we all kind of can. We can
say a Spanish word and we immediately there's like that connection.
And I know that we're starting to run out of time.
So I just had a couple more questions, and then
(31:57):
I know you have a business to run, So my
I'm just curious, are you expanding into other products besides candles?
Speaker 1 (32:06):
Currently? No, we're not expanding us to other products. That's
definitely a question. I get a lot, but I also
want to hear a lot of what customers would like
for products, whether that's wax mouths or diffusers like and I.
Right now, I am really focusing on expanding the product
line and the kind of fragrances that we carry, and
(32:27):
diving in deeper into other countries and listening to customers
and what they want to experience. Like I always ask
people like it, when you went back to your country
for the first time, or you went over the summer
and you just got off the plane, what reminds you,
what instantly reminds you of home, because that's I want
(32:51):
people to go back and to reimagine where you are,
and I really want to bring that experience in a candle.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
What is something that you're reading or doing that you're
just obsessed with and you want to recommend, reading, listening to,
or doing.
Speaker 1 (33:06):
Like I have like a whole I'm like, I'm like
putting my hand in my face. I'm like, oh God,
there's so many things that I feel like I've been
wanting to get a hold of. But there's one book
in particular that I read last summer when I had
more time on my hand that really spoke to me
(33:26):
in my experience, and that was I'm not your perfect
Mexican Daughter.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
Sanchez. I believe yes, the author yes.
Speaker 1 (33:35):
And that was one book that I read. I'm like,
this is something I feel like I've read Latino and
Latin that needs to read that has immigrated to the
United States or grew up in a household that didn't
always that was so fair, family oriented that it kind
of felt devastating to your ability to grow as a person.
(33:56):
And I'm obsessed. I'm obsessed with the book. If somebody's
having an identity crisis and they're Latino you need to
read this. You will see yourself.
Speaker 2 (34:05):
Yeah, and I believe that there's now going to be
a movie or a show or something based on that,
So we're going to have to keep an eye out.
The name of the show is Latinas take the lead.
How are you taking the lead.
Speaker 1 (34:19):
I'm taking the lead by becoming one of the trail
blazers in Fragrance. I'm taking the lead by making sure
that BYPOC founders are heard and that those in Fragrance
are your acentric. Fragrance is based in France, and there
(34:39):
has been no representation of us, so I want to
be the trailblazer and take the lead in home Fragrance.
Speaker 2 (34:46):
Amazing and where can people find you buy your candles?
Check them out, et cetera.
Speaker 1 (34:53):
Well, you can find us all on social media at Bonneit,
the Fierce Candles. You can shop us on our website
at Bonnita, the Fierce Canals dot com, at Norstrom and
guy then a collective.
Speaker 2 (35:03):
Amazing much, Melissa, Such an honor to meet you and
like get to know you a little bit better than
just you know through social media. So thank you for
giving us the space and time.
Speaker 1 (35:15):
Absolutely, thank you so much for having me and for
me being having the opportunity to speak to your audience.
Speaker 2 (35:27):
Thank you so much for listening. I hope you learned
something today. I know I did. Please subscribe and give
us a review, Tell your friends and go Madrees about
our podcast, and hope you join us next week. Latin
Has Take the Lead is executive produced by Hodsten Reinoso
Media Group, LLC and hosted by me Naive Renos. Production
(35:47):
Assistant is Ana Sofia Monson. Latinus Take the Lead is
a production of the Seneca Women Podcast Network and iHeartRadio.
For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, check out the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
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